BRUSSELS — The marriage has broken down. Now for the divorce proceedings.

At the European Council Thursday, Britain and the other 27 EU member countries will start to put the fights and angry recriminations of June's Brexit referendum to one side and finally begin the formal stages of separation.

Over dinner, the Continent's leaders will meet without Theresa May to begin building their case against the unfaithful, departing partner.

In the statement to be published after the dinner Thursday night, the EU27 will announce plans for an EU Council — probably an extraordinary one after the March summit — within weeks of Britain formally triggering Article 50 early next year, diplomatic sources told POLITICO.

The move is designed — in part — to head off complaints about member countries being sidelined from the negotiations with Britain.

At the summit next year, the European Commission will be confirmed as the bloc’s lead negotiator — the nightmare federalist divorce lawyer tasked with getting the best deal for EU capitals who are fearful of being picked off and weakened as a bloc by the U.K.

According to two senior sources in Brussels, the EU27 will ram home their message of unity in the statement at the end of this week’s dinner. According to diplomats who spoke to POLITICO, the message will be simple: We are ready, it’s time you got on with it.

In Westminster, May's government is sanguine about the EU27’s public show of unity. A Downing Street source said the U.K. government welcomed the talks, despite being excluded. The source said the prime minister did not object to being sidelined because the meeting showed the other member countries were finally “facing up to the reality of Britain leaving the European Union.”

The source said the meeting was to allow the EU27 to “organize” themselves ahead of Article 50 being triggered early next year, which was fine by Downing Street.

May — who campaigned for Remain, but has taken up the Brexit cause with the enthusiasm of a convert — does not want to make a fuss about the U.K.'s exclusion from Thursday's talks.

Despite her tough rhetoric on immigration and the European Court of Justice, the U.K. prime minister is determined to maintain good diplomatic relations ahead of the divorce proceedings.

In the discussions between the 28, the British prime minister will play a constructive role — offering more help to Greece to cope with its migration problems, support for Berlin over the EU-Turkey migration deal and continuing EU foreign policy unity against Russia and Syria amid widespread concern over the incoming Donald Trump administration in the U.S.

May will also meet European Parliament President Martin Schulz in a deliberate move to reassure MEPs that the U.K. government takes their role seriously.

In a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk released last night, Schulz attacked the way the statement from the 27 heads of state or government relegated the European Parliament “to a secondary position in the Brexit negotiation process.”

The European Parliament will have no formal role in the negotiations — set to be conducted between the U.K.’s Brexit Secretary David Davis and the Commission's Michel Barnier — but can veto any deal.

Theresa May arrives for a Council meeting in October | Stephane de Sakutin/AFP via Getty Images

In his letter, Schulz warned Tusk that if the Parliament could “draw up its own detailed arrangements” with Barnier and the U.K. government, and was prepared to block a deal it did not like — forcing the U.K. to crash out of the EU without an agreement. “This would be the very hardest of Brexits and to the detriment of everybody,” he warned.

Thursday’s EU summit comes amid growing clarity over the U.K.’s Brexit plan. On Monday, Chancellor Philip Hammond called for a transition period to give the U.K. a “smooth” landing out of the EU.

On Wednesday, Davis publicly admitted a transition might be necessary.

Appearing in front of a committee of MPs, Davis said he was open to a transition period, but only to allow the “implementation” of any agreement the U.K. had reached with Brussels within the two-year exit period.

“We are aiming to get ourselves in a position where we can negotiate within the Article 50 process,” he said. “Article 50 was written to allow departures from the European Union, that’s its purpose. Plainly the authors of it thought it was time enough to do the job. And so do I.”

But he added that an “implementation phase” could be acceptable “if it is necessary and only if it is necessary.”

“The British people want this done with some degree of expedition, they want it done properly and soon and that is what we are trying to do.”

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Tom Cullem

We really don’t care about your bloody dinner. And after Trump offers us that juicy trade deal, we won’t care about the rest of you, either. How’s the euro today, then? You can’t even manage unity on how to handle the migrant crisis, and Italy is holding up your budget,

There’s a much bigger divorce heading your way – with 27 co-respondents.

Posted on 12/15/16 | 2:10 AM CET

Pete

@ Tom Cullen

So your country’s future hinges on a “juicy trade deal” with Donald Trump? OK then. Good luck with that.

Posted on 12/15/16 | 8:45 AM CET

p

Suit yourself. Of course Trump doesn’t look at its own interests…

And of course the UK doesn’t need anyone to handle its migrants crisis (actually the British government doesn’t who lives where…)

Posted on 12/15/16 | 9:11 AM CET

Jonty

Please exclude the UK from every gathering it will spur us on to declare Independence immediately Article 50 is triggered and make us leave completely without long drawn out negotiations .
I just love the pettiness of the EU politicians acting like a jilted lover, spiteful and venomous towards us.
Keep it up!! It just means a swifter complete break.

Posted on 12/15/16 | 9:24 AM CET

Pete

@ Jonty

I’m not sure where you are seeing “spiteful and venomous” behaviour. PM May recently visited several EU member countries and everywhere she was received politely and gracefully, as she should be. And of course Ms. May will continue to join all European summits until the UK leaves the Union.

It is also clear, however, that the 27 remaining EU countries have to align on how to approach the upcoming Brexit. It is rather obvious that this cannot be done with the representative of the UK in the room, who will be on the other side of the negotiation table.

Posted on 12/15/16 | 10:02 AM CET

jodocus

@Tom Cullem & Jonty

There is no pleasing some people, is there? The other EU memberstates are getting together to prepare for the upcoming talks, Mrs. May applauds it because it shows the rest of the EU is coming to terms with Brexit, but some people are (as always) ready with a box of sneers. Well done.

Not satisfied the UK leaving the EU and the Common Market, showing undisguised glee at seeing the EU in trouble, eager anticipation of seeing the EU suffer further damage are unseemly and counterproductive.

@Jonty
Tom Cullem’s soul mate apparently. The fact that the rest of the EU has to coordinate its policy versus the UK in the upcoming negotiations isn’t a good enough reason to schedule an extra meeting at the summit without het UK, is it?

For people who are confused about the upcoming negotiations, here’s how it works:

(1) the UK will inform the EU of exactly how it intends to implements the UK’s withdrawal from the treaties and what form/level of access it seeks to the Common Market
(2) depending on how the UK wishes to implement its withdrawal, the EU will inform the UK of what combinations of terms it will or will not accept, and what terms it will offer for the requested access
(3) the UK accepts the access conditions or revises the details of how it will effect brexit
(4) Repeat until convergence or until two years have passed.

The end result will depend on exactly how the UK wishes to style its Brexit.:

(1) Hard Brexit (currently favoured by the UK: out of the EU, the Common Market, and the Customs Uniion): means “You’re Out”: WTO-level access only (no more passporting rights for service providers).
(2) Soft Brexit: means the UK retains access and continues to contribute to the budget (in a reduced form) but no longer has a say in the workings of the EU
(3) mixed Brexit: what this means is anybody’s guess. Constraints: “just business” and “no cherrypicking”

All the rest is fluff.

Posted on 12/15/16 | 11:51 AM CET

Monsieur Zola

Leaving the EU was the best decision you ever made as far as the European family is concerned. Just leave and mind your own business. In fact, you do not even need to negotiate; we are doomed to fail as you say. So leave already. Your bedfellows thereafter are no concern of ours.

Posted on 12/15/16 | 12:12 PM CET

rong4diy

We could have already invoked Article 50 and not be wasting time if 1) David Cameron had not bailed out of what he promised .ie. The day after the Referendum he would inform the EU that we wished to leave ,instead he bails and leaves a mess. 2) The dumbo Remoaners who will not accept the result as it did not go their way throwing all sorts of ideas to block Brexit .
Why oh why do these people harp on about how great the EU is and wish us to continue to be ruled by the unelected who now hate us with a passion just for wishing to leave their club? These EU morons ( plus a lot of the remoaners ) would certainly have accepted the results numbers if it had gone to remain . Time wasters……

Posted on 12/15/16 | 12:55 PM CET

FierEuropeen

What this witch is doing in the EU!?! Grab your broom and get LOST!

Posted on 12/15/16 | 1:33 PM CET

james

@Fier
You wanna watch yourself calling her a witch she may turn you into a rabbit that gets eating by some Romanian migrants! 🙂

Posted on 12/15/16 | 6:33 PM CET

J32322

There is nothing unreasonable with the EU meeting without UK and equally nothing newsworthy in this piece either. Jodocus is right, the outcome of the negs is a spectrum and we may land anywhere along it.

Why is there so much bile (from both sides) in the comments?

Posted on 12/15/16 | 7:50 PM CET

Tommy

“We are ready, it’s time you got on with it.”
How childish can they get?

Posted on 12/16/16 | 9:35 AM CET

Peter

pfff 10 or more years of this shizzle.

Posted on 12/16/16 | 4:30 PM CET

martinj

Exit EU on WTO terms, exit NATO, end sanctions on Russia, give up our seat in the Security Council, and trade with whomsoever we like on mutually agreed terms. We have no friends and no enemies and enough nucs to make sure the rest of the world respects our choice.